Thursday, September 25, 2014

First I just wanted to apologize for not updating this more often. With 4 active kids there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. The summer went by way to quick and the kids are all back in school. Well all but the baby.

We were finally able to get a sitter for all 4 kids for an over night so Dave and I could sail to Cuttyhunk. During the weekend before, we had gotten a new motor, so we knew we wouldn't have any of the issues we have had in the past regarding that. And with small trips here and there during the summer, we felt we were in a better position and had more knowledge and I'm happy to say, we made it there with no issues. YAY! The wind was really good. But I do have to be honest, I REALLY hate when the boat lists and wets the

rail, but that is another post all together. You can't really tell in the pics, but we were wetting the rail and Dave was loving it. Me, not so much.

We knew we were at the end of the season for going to Cuttyhunk, and knew it would be pretty

deserted, but we hadn't expected it to be as quiet as it was. Nothing seemed to be open. The country store was only open for like 15 min after we got there, and all the restaurants had been closed for the season. We did find the market open, for about 10 more min. and the lady there told us, pretty much our only option for food was the raw bar.

Oh great, the only food around was seafood and I don't like seafood at all. Never did. But I was starving, so I had to "choke" it down. Since I don't like seafood, I let Dave order for me. He got us some stuffed quohogs, shrimp cocktail, clam chowder, and some seafood dip stuff that you put on crackers. I do have to be honest though, the clam chowder was pretty good. Dave loves sea food so it didn't matter much to him, although I think he felt pretty bad there were no other options. Oh well, no big deal, it is what it is, and I wasn't

going to starve. We did have snacks in the boat, and if not we could have gotten some at the market while we were there.

Cuttyhunk itself was pretty cool. Pretty much no cars, and was very quiet. We walked around some and stopped at the military lookout, which I guess is the tallest point on the island. We loved that no matter where you looked, was water all around.

After we ate we paddled back to the Wanderlust. Seemed like we paddled and paddled for more than

a mile. Oh wait... I should say, it seemed like Dave paddled his butt off to get back. We got back and we were wanting to do some fishing. So once we got settled back in the boat and got the fishing gear out, we casted out a couple times and it started raining. So in the cabin we went.

Seemed like once we settled in bed, it started to pour and rain much harder. Something we had never noticed before because we were never in the boat while it was raining, we had a leak in the hatch that we need to take care of. Right on my legs all night. So not only did I HAVE to eat seafood, which I don't like, but I was getting dripped on most of the night. But, believe it or not, it really wasn't that bad and of course I would do it again.

Being our first night ever sleeping in a boat, neither of us got much sleep. Worried about the ropes

would come lose, which they of course didn't. Wondered what every noise we heard was. From the halyard banging against the mast, the anchor banging against the boat. And at times it even sounded like someone was walking around on the deck and in the cockpit, but no one was there when we would check. And a bunch of noises we couldn't quite identify. Also during the night it did get pretty rough and was very windy and cold by morning with rough surf.

We listened to the weather on the radio, before we headed out for the return trip, and we learned that there was a small craft advisory with pretty strong wind and 3-5 ft surf. We waited it out for a little while, hoping for it to calm down some. But we did have to be back by a certain time to pick up

our kids, as the sitter had things to do that day. So now we were getting concerned, both because of the small craft advisory and for not making it back in time to get our kids. So we made some phone calls to ensure our kids were taken care of until we do finally get home. We did see some other sailboats that were bigger than us, head out, so we decided we would head out as well....

Was that the right decision? It was VERY rough, and it did take us a while to make it back. But I think it proved to both Dave and I that we have come a long way this season. From knowing nothing at all about sailing, to making this overnight trip to Cuttyhunk and back. Although the season isn't completely over quite yet, we are slowing down, due to other obligations, and because school has started, but next year will be so much more fun.